It's All About the Heat

By: Guy P.

Go ahead…”unburn” it. If it is undercooked…you can save it. Burn it, you can lie and call it “Cajun style” or you can scrape the toast. But beyond that…it’s over. Even or uneven heat, which is best? Well the answer is………it depends.

Even heat is just that, one big even heat ZONE. ZONE is the optimum word here. Uneven heat gives you an opportunity to manage the cooking differently. So there really is nothing wrong with uneven heat. It gets wrong in the application there of. This is why that heat, or cooling controls on appliances have Hi, Low, Medium and OFF. In traditional terms, “toss another log on the fire”!

Here is an example using one of my favorite cooking tools; the Camp Chef 11” Square Skillet griddle. Being cast iron it works to help spread the heat source.

And if you look closely you can see where the heat spread went across the bottom from the heat marks left on the bottom of the griddle.

This is easier to see while cooking a couple of pancakes. See how the bubbles start first in the pancake towards the middle.

Then when you flip them it is even more apparent with the “finish” of the cake. A little darker towards what was the center pushing the envelope of what could be called “Cajun”. Then the outside is lighter. Want a perfect pancake as it pertains to the finished look only. Cook them one at a time in the center. Or better yet go buy that gadget that cooks the perfect pancake….(really, is nothing sacred?)

Maybe it just requires a larger heat source….ding!!!!

If a two inch burner that I’ve despised for years in my home can get at least these results as it pertains only to a finished look of a nice even brown finish. What could the wide 6 inch low pressure burner of a Camp Chef stove produce if you were looking for more even heat across a larger surface area? Really, it is about the heat and how you use it.

Hang around because I’m gearing up to have a go at those of you who believe Microwaving popcorn is a skill!